4,408 Shares in Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL) Acquired by USA Financial Formulas

USA Financial Formulas purchased a new stake in Ralph Lauren Co. (NYSE:RL - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 4,408 shares of the textile maker's stock, valued at approximately $973,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in RL. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its position in shares of Ralph Lauren by 93.7% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 122 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Ralph Lauren by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 1,005 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $231,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Ralph Lauren by 19.6% during the 4th quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 446 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $103,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its position in shares of Ralph Lauren by 28.0% during the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 347 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. Finally, Twin Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ralph Lauren by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,659 shares of the textile maker's stock valued at $1,307,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. 67.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on RL. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $310.00 target price on shares of Ralph Lauren in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Ralph Lauren from $285.00 to $342.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Ralph Lauren from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Ralph Lauren from $250.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on Ralph Lauren from $318.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ralph Lauren presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $292.88.

Ralph Lauren Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of RL stock traded down $0.98 on Thursday, hitting $266.69. The company had a trading volume of 605,983 shares, compared to its average volume of 822,473. The firm has a market cap of $16.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.51. The stock's 50-day moving average is $243.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $241.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 1.76. Ralph Lauren Co. has a twelve month low of $155.96 and a twelve month high of $289.33.

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The textile maker reported $2.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $1.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.64 billion. Ralph Lauren had a return on equity of 30.88% and a net margin of 10.14%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.71 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ralph Lauren Co. will post 12.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ralph Lauren announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 22nd that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the textile maker to reacquire up to 8.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Ralph Lauren Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be paid a $0.9125 dividend. This is a boost from Ralph Lauren's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 27th. This represents a $3.65 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. Ralph Lauren's dividend payout ratio is presently 31.44%.

Ralph Lauren Company Profile

Ralph Lauren Corporation designs, markets, and distributes lifestyle products in North America, Europe, Asia, and internationally. The company offers apparel, including a range of men's, women's, and children's clothing; footwear and accessories, which comprise casual shoes, dress shoes, boots, sneakers, sandals, eyewear, watches, fashion and fine jewelry, scarves, hats, gloves, and umbrellas, as well as leather goods, such as handbags, luggage, small leather goods, and belts; home products consisting of bed and bath lines, furniture, fabric and wallcoverings, floor coverings, lighting, tabletop, kitchen linens, floor coverings, dining, decorative accessories, and giftware; and fragrances.